IRVINE - Just as it had in recent years, Harvard-Westlake's girls water polo team arrived at William Woollett Jr. Aquatic Center with the star, looking to Princeton commit Morgan Hallock to carry the Wolverines to another CIF Southern Section final.

But Palos Verdes had the strength in numbers and the Sea Kings' collective unit was too deep Wednesday for the top-seeded Wolverines in the Div. III semifinals.

Palos Verdes (18-9), which captured the Div. II title in 2010 before competing the past two seasons in Div. I, will face No. 2 Los Osos (22-10) - a 12-6 winner over Arroyo Grande - in Saturday's final at Woollett.

"We have such good chemistry and everyone on the team has a role and everyone fulfilled that role," said Palos Verdes' Ellie D'Ambra, who had four goals and two assists.

"When someone had an opportunity, they were able to step up and take advantage and they finished. And Carly was amazing. She's the one who holds us together.

"We're just a really strong unit."

Harvard-Westlake (24-8) scored the first goal in each half, converting 6-on-5 advantages in both situations, but Palos Verdes responded by scoring six of the next seven goals in the first half and three of the next four in the second half.

Hallock's lone goal gave the Wolverines their only lead, with Palos Verdes quickly responding with a pair of counterattack goals to seize momentum and the Sea Kings never relinquished control.

"Morgan is a great player and you're not going to stop her, you just have to try to limit her opportunities," Palos Verdes coach Patrick O'Brien said. "I thought the girls played hard and did a great job carrying out our game plan. We wanted to make someone else beat us from the outside. The staple of this team is defense and I couldn't be happier with our effort."

"It definitely made me happy," Radov said. "You always pick people out on the other team that you need to pay attention to and when you block their best player on a one-on-nobody, it gives you the confidence that you can do almost anything."

It certainly appeared that way during stretches for the Wolverines, who had near-post shots turned away, lobs tipped over the crossbar and point-blank attempts knocked down by Radov.

Kirsten Gargas had four goals, with Kendyl Johnson scoring twice for Palos Verdes.

"The bottom line is we didn't play well enough," Harvard-Westlake coach Brian Flacks said. "You can't give up nine goals in a half or get outscored 5-1 in a quarter and expect to win a game like that, especially the way (Radov) was playing. We fell behind and we could never get back into it."